JacquesCousteau

Very nice work on the furled sail!

Nice work! There are lots of ways to simulate caulking, including by rubbing a pencil along one or both edges. I'd recommend using a bit of scrap wood to test some different options and see which you like best.

I've made a bit of progress on the rigging, painting the shroud hooks and adding the traveler block, below. For the latter, I left the hook as unpainted annealed wire, as I needed to bend it shut around the horse. The color difference doesn't stand out too much, thankfully. I also made more progress on the cherry base. After a bit more searching, I think the gouging I mentioned above may have been tear-out from where the grain direction shifted around the knot. After a lot of sanding didn't quite get rid if it, I tried to use a cabinet scraper. Despite following a lot of "how to" videos, I couldn't get a good burr on it, and it only ever produced dust instead of shavings. So, I kept sanding. Finally it seemed acceptable. At that point, I cut out the base, adding a point at each end, which I accidentally made sharper than I had planned--good reminder to measure twice, cut once! I also lightly beveled the edges with my mini plane. I then cut out the 3/32-inch brass tube supports, using my razor saw. As I didn't quite get the holes drilled perfectly in the keel, I had to add some slight bends to get the supports right. Next, I drilled the holes for the supports in the base--this time triple-checking they were properly lined up and measured before drilling. Finally, I was able to dry fit the hull. I'm pleased with how the base has turned out, although I still need to decide how to finish it--I do have some linseed oil that I'm testing on some scrap, although it will take a long time to dry. I also need to slightly adjust the bends in the brass tubes, and to think about how I want to orient the model on the base. Next up, I need to figure out the deck cargo and furnishings/fittings, and finish the rigging. On the latter, if I complete the build without sails, there's relatively little left to do--just add the mainsheet and its boom block, add the lifts and sheets, and add thimbles to the shrouds and forestay and tie them off. But, if I want sails, it will be much easier to fit them with the mast off the hull and add the mast at the very end.

Thanks, very nicely done at a small scale. That's quite the collection!

Excellent work, this was a very interesting and informative build. The end result looks great! I have to ask: how big is the complete model? 1:87 scale sounds like a real challenge.

Excellent work, it's great to see the whole model and how well it's coming together. Enjoy the summer!

Very nicely done! The ingenuity it takes to get a ship into a bottle really is something else.

Checking it in the light of day: yes I think there's a bit of chatter. I'll see if I can sand it out.

Thanks, all! We'll see how well it turns out on the spectrum between looking like a good representation of improvised parts, and looking like I have no clue what I'm doing. @Glen McGuire, I think it is a bit of chatter. I don't really understand how it can be smooth to the touch and still appear rough, but when I used a slightly damp cloth to wipe dust off, I noticed that that area seemed to absorb more water and retain it for much longer. The other side has a bit of lengthwise chatter marks, and had the price and bar code stickers. Despite spraying alcohol, scraping, and sanding, there still seems to be a bit of sticker residue that I can't seem to get off, so I think this side it will be.

Nice save!

Next on my list are the metal hooks that, with the turnbuckles, join the shrouds to the chainplates. As has been seen in a lot of photos I've posted earlier, the exact arrangement of these could be a bit haphazard, so I decided to make the metal hooks in different lengths and thicknesses of material. Initially, I made two out of some brass eyebolts, and two from a thicker brass rod. The four hooks are seen below, along with a smaller hook to serve as a traveler. This latter piece is made of annealed wire, which has the advantage of naturally being a nice gunmetal color, but I don't want to use it too much in order to better match my existing metalwork, which is painted. However, I made an exception for the traveler, as after the block is stropped, I'll need to squeeze it tight into a loop around the horse--something that would be impossible to do to a painted piece without requiring a lot of touch-up. However, when I went to prime the pieces, one of the smaller brass hooks flipped away, off the wire it was suspdnded from and off my balcony. I decided to redo the smaller hooks in annealed wire, but to paint them, and to attach the ends directly to the turnbuckles (unlike the larger hooks, which will be tied). This will hopefully add to the rather improvised look I'm going for (as will the size difference in hooks). While the paint is drying, I've also begun prepping the display base, which will be a 1/4x3x10-inch cherry sheet. However, after a lot of sanding, there's a section that feels as smooth as the rest of the board, but looks white-ish, almost like a rough patch (but, again, it feels perfectly smooth). I take it the board just needs more sanding?

I'm not familiar with Dressel's book, but have marked out planking bands before in some of my own builds. How are you measuring the distances and how are you marking out the band locations? Before doing anything else, I'd triple-check that your measurements are being taken from consistent points on the same bulkhead/frame (something that I've certainly gotten mixed up on before), and using a material that won't stretch. For instance, string might stretch when you pull it tight around the bulkhead shape or to measure it, but a strip of paper or cardstock won't stretch.

Very nice work! That stern looks a bit tricky to plank but it turned out well.

Nice job! You definitely won't regret taking the time to properly fair the hull.

Looks like a very interesting model!

Between travel, work, and some other projects, I haven't had much time for the build. I was able to get a bit of work done in the last few days, though. First, I added the throat halyard. While the mast-side double block for the halyard is already in place, I still needed to add the gaff-side single block. In hindsight, it may have been more accurate to use single blocks for both, as that arrangement shows up in most photos, while I followed the plan which has a double block. Fortunately, I did find a photo of a working lancha rigged with a double block on the throat halyard, so doing it this way is plausible. But it's still a good reminder to double-check everything, including the number of lines passing through each block, rather than just trusting plans. Then it was time to remove the mast and rigging, leaving everything still attached to the mast, to work on the rudder hinges. I tried to make a jig to get a tighter, more consistent bend on the rudder hinges, which are made of brass strip. I used some paint stir sticks that were made of a surprisingly hard wood, as well as some scrap and a thick steel sewing needle as a pin (held in holes in the top and bottom of the jig). The basic idea of the jig was to place the brass strip centered at the pin and to press the notched wood against it, shaping it around the pin. Unfortunately, the jig didn't work very well. The brass strip--even after heating it red-hot, and using the very thin strip that I used to make the chainplates--just didn't take very tight bends with the jig. Instead, I ended up just bending the hinges by hand. With a lot of care, I got them a good bit smaller than those on the Canoa de Rancho. (Unfortunately I forgot to take photos). Photos like the one below show that Lanchas used a single long pin threaded through all the hinges, although my build follows other examples in having two rather than three hinge pairs and in using hinges rather than eyebolts on the hull side. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchinmardones/5312311416/ After cleaning and priming the hinges, it was time to attach them and hang the rudder. I began by gluing the hull-side hinges in place, using a brass rod to ensure they were lined up properly. I then looped the rudder-side hinges around the rod, slid them into place, and dry fit the rudder. I found that my efforts to make small hinges seemed to have paid off--if anything they were too small, and there wasn't enough space between the rod and the transom/sternpost to fit the rudder hinges. I decided that the best way to deal with this was to carefully cut a little divot where the hinges will go so they have space, as seen below. The divots were then painted to match the hull, becoming nearly imperceptible. It was then time to glue the rudder-side hinges in place. In order to make sure they were properly positioned, I glued the bottom hinge in the correct location off the hull, then hung the rudder, threading it on the rod, to get the top hinge in place. This was quite difficult, as there was very little space even with the divots. In order to add superglue to the inside of the top hinge, I had to tilt the rudder back, but after gluing the top hinge I found that this had popped the lower hinge loose from the rudder, so I had to carefully re-glue it. After some frustrating minutes, though, it worked out. I then removed the rod and painted and weathered the rudder-side hinges, below. I also made the long rudder pin with a length of brass rod that I put a small loop into one end of, and then primed and painted that. At this point, I was ready to finally hang the rudder. I lined it up and began to pass the pin through the hinges. Of course, the added paint made the pin thicker than it was before, and it got stuck. When I pushed it down a little harder, the top hinge popped off the hull, as can be seen (kinda) below. At this point I remembered that I should have scraped the paint off the gluing surface for a better hold... Finally, I was able to re-glue the hinge and to touch up the paint. The rudder is now in place! It does rotate about 45 degrees to each side, although it's pretty stiff. Overall I'm much happier with how these hinges turned out than I was with the Canoa de Rancho's hinges, but I clearly still have a lot to learn. Hats off to those of you who can make nice hinges and otherwise do great metalwork! While I had been hoping to have this finished for the NRG photo competition, I've taken on some other projects and don't think it will be ready in time (at least not with sails...). That said, I've been really enjoying getting into other sorts of woodworking. I'm nearly done making a ring box, below, from cherry, walnut, and maple. It's interesting how even a small box like this changes your perspective. While I previously considered anything over 1/8‐inch to be thick wood, that's really quite thin for this sort of work. Getting things perfectly square is also much harder than I thought (especially with limited tools). These sorts of projects are really challenging me, but I'm learning an entirely different style of woodworking from what I do with models. It's very fun, even if every project takes a lot longer than I think it will.

Nice work!

I'm looking forward to following along on this build!

Very interesting model!

Looking forward to following along with this build!

Excellent work on the whaleboats! I have to ask, how were they made? Are they plank on mold, hollow lifts, or some other method? They look very convincing.

Sorry to hear about the build. I definitely found some aspects of this model to be a little frustrating, especially that fairing the hull took so much sanding. For whatever it's worth, if you decide to pick it up again in the future, I found it helpful to use the markings on the tape more as a rough guide to cut out an oversized plank beyond the lines, and then to sand the plank, with numerous test fittings, until it fit well against the previous plank.

Nice job, it's a very elegant hull!

Will there be anything inside the cabin that will be visible through the windows? If they just show the internal framework of the model, something opaque or maybe even black cardstock might work well to give the appearance of windows.

Excellent information, @Dee_Dee, and your build log on this subject is very interesting--great model! There are a number of differences between the Model Shipways kit and the Chapelle plans. The shrouds are one--I assume they were added to make the kit more of a learning experience for new builders, but they're really more appropriate for a Friendship Sloop. I was also intrigued by Chapelle's statement that most of the centerboard Muscongus Bay sloops were lapstrake planked (although his plan is based in part on a hulk that was carvel-planked), something I haven't seen represented by any model.